On this day. . . Star Independent, March 12, 1915 SAYS POLICEMEN INTERFERE WITH FIREMEN’S WORK Colonel Demming Gives Out Details of the Complaint Made By the Union TROUBLE AT THE SHEARER BLAZE Declared “Copper” Refused to Let Fire Company’s Foreman Go Into Building—Patrolman Made Firemen Yield Place on Engine That patrolmen many times during the last year have unwarrantedly interfered while on duty at fires and on at least one occasion a bluecoat brushed a fire laddie from a speeding engine and took the fireman’s place on the apparatus in the rush to a fire, are among the charges made by the Harrisburg Fireman’s Union in the protest it has prepared to file with Mayor (John K.) Royal and Fire Chief John C. Kindler, Colonel H. C. Demming, president of the union, today gave out the details of the charges which a committee of the union has been delegated to lay before the Mayor and Fire Chief. Mayor Royal has not yet been officially informed of the union’s action, but nevertheless said today that he has inquired into the report that some of his patrolmen had assumed authority at fires which the firemen construed to be interference. The Mayor stated that he felt confident that the difference said to be existing between the patrolmen and firemen can be adjusted at once and without difficulty. Colonel Demming takes the stand that the alleged police interference actually endangers property when there is a fire, and says that the firemen want it clearly defined where the firemen’s and policemen’s authority ends during the fighting of a blaze. Clash at Shearer Fire Many of the representative firemen who constitute the Firemen’s Union have complained to their colleagues regarding the so-called police interference. The latest instance, one of the members, was at a recent fire at the Shearer Building. (Log entry for this alarm: March 2, 1915- Box 112 at 2:25 p.m.; 206 Market St. Four story brick store and factory building(Shearer Building). Fire in the top of the second floor stairs in the hallway outside the Owl studio caused by defective wiring. Loss $15. Fire Dept was out 30 min.) In that case, Colonel Demming said, the assistant fireman of one company complained that a “copper” had brushed him aside and refused to permit him to enter the burning building, saying “There are enough men up there now. They don’t need you.” “This whole matter resolves itself into a question of whether the firemen or the police are the more competent to fight fires,” said a prominent smoke-eater, “and whether a patrolman, standing on the outside of a burning building, is capable of determining what number of firemen is required successfully to combat a blaze.” When Mayor Royal was asked about the controversy he said that the committee from the Firemen’s Union had not yet called on him. He said, however he has inquired fully into the Shearer fire complaint and is satisfied that the patrolman, who denied the assistant fireman admittance to the building, was justified in his action because “more men than were needed already” were at the seat of the fire. The Mayor’s Attitude The Mayor went on to say that he does not look for much difficulty in adjusting the difference between the firemen and the patrolman, and he will give the firemen’s complaint full consideration. He added, however: “If the city of Harrisburg wants the firemen to have full control of fires and does not desire police protection we—meaning the police force—will gladly stay away. Then it will be up to the firemen to stretch the ropes and handle the curious spectators.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 11:12:59 +0000
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